Late May update on 2003 Yellowstone pups.

5-27-2003

Here is the latest update on Yellowstone Park wolves, with particular emphasis on pups.

Pups have now been seen with the Geode Creek, Druid, Swan Lake, Leopold Pack, and 251F's group.

Doug Smith saw one Druid pup on May 15, but no more pups since. This does not mean they have but one pup. Some suspect the pack could have 3 litters because 42F, 255F and the "U-black" were mated and are lactating. Smith cautions that lactation is not certain evidence a wolf has pups. Rick McIntyre reports that wolf 302M, probable father of some of the Druid litters, if more than 42F's exist, is still traveling the long distance between his native Leopold Pack and Druid's den area. He has also been seen hunting elk in the Lamar, at one time with a companion.

A least five pups have been visually seen with the Geode Pack, whose alpha male was recently killed by an ungulate. 300M is probably the new alpha male. 106F is founding alpha female of the Geode Pack. The pack moved its den site by about a mile in mid-May, and moved it yet again just the other day. This is an interesting contrast to the Druid Pack which as used the same den area every year, despite the throngs of wolf tourists at the base of Druid Peak and the gauntlet the pack often has to move through. Indications that there are more than five Geode Pack pups are based on the original observation of 5 black pups. Since then Rick McIntryre has seen 3 gray pups mixed with several black pups.

Five pups have also been seen in the Leopold Pack. These black pups were being nursed by wolf 220F who was not thought to be the alpha female. 259F, thought to be the alpha female, has lost her radio collar. There is a possibility of a double litter in this pack. The Leopolds are using the den sites of the 7F, the Pack's founding alpha female. Both 7F and her mate 2M were killed in separate incidents last year, probably both by the nearby Geode Pack.

Wolf 105F has finally denned after two previous years of speculation that she would. Her den is just north of the Park boundary in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in the Buffalo Fork. At one time her pack was going to be named the "Slough Creek Pack." but she has been displaced from Slough Creek by 217F/261M's group which formed last winter. 105F's pack will, therefore, be the "Buffalo Fork Pack," and 217F/261M will be the "Slough Creek Pack." Both packs almost surely have pups, but they haven't been seen yet. 217F was seen to led her pack to drive a cougar from its kill in Slough Creek about 4 weeks ago. The boulder strewn mountain slopes around Slough Creek are favored habitat by cougar.

Mollie's Pack denned as usual in the Pelican Valley. There were absolutely no elk in the area until last weekend when bull elk returned in force. Mollie's Pack was no doubt making a tough living killing bison until last weekend. On a May 23 flight, Smith say 4 of the pack trying to pin a bull elk in cold, swiftly flowing Pelican Creek. The elk's tactic of staying in the cold surging waters worked. The wolves couldn't get footing and might have also been more sensitive to the cold and finally abandoned that hunt attempt. The alpha female with the broken leg, 174F is still limping, but looking better. She is thought to have pups because the pack has been by the likely den site in every recent flight. The entire area is full of grizzly bears.

251F, a disperser from the Agate Pack, has been seen with 5 pups. There is no decision yet on the name of her pack. "Tower,"  "Elk Creek" and "Garnet Hill" are leading possibilities, but there are others. Wolf 251 is a black wolf with a grey chin. Her uncollared mate is a younger black male which Smith described as "huge."

Five pups have finally been seen with the big Swan Lake Pack, which favors Gardiner's Hole. The alpha female of this pack is 152F

In addition, Agate Creel, Rose Creek II, Chief Joseph, Cougar Creek, Bechler, Nez Perce, and Yellowstone Delta are all thought to have pups, but none have been officially seen yet. After some difficultly, the Yellowstone Delta Pack was finally found. The alpha female 126F was located near the Teton Wilderness/YNP boundary. This pack has proved very difficult to keep radio collars on. The members readily chew them off, making them always hard to track. The alpha female probably keeps her collar because subordinate wolves would never approach her with such chewing behavior. As a side note, 126F dates back to the original Soda Butte Pack, which was renamed the Yellowstone Delta Pack after all its original members finally died and its sole pup  from 1995, 24F, dispersed to found the Teton Pack.

Folks ought to pick up a copy of "Hawk's Rest," Gary Ferguson's new book about his recent summer as the Forest Service caretaker of the Hawk's Rest patrol cabin, just south of the Park boundary in the Teton Wilderness. He writes considerably of the hostility of the outfitters to the wolves, and I have heard various reports over the years are that they like to ride their horses over the Delta Pack's den site. While I have always been treated well by outfitters in the hundreds of days I have backpacked in the Teton and Washakie Wilderness, I'm sad to report that most people I have talked with lately think the outfitters' ethics are declining.

For the first time since the drought began late in 1999, the Lamar Valley is nice and green, good news for most of this famous valley's wildlife. Elk calves are now abundant. Rick McIntrye reports that there have been a notable number of grizzly and black bear seen this spring. In fact the Park Service has warned hikers on the northern range to be very cautious of grizzly bears. Wolf watching has slowed down, however, during the last week because temperatures have risen a great deal and the wolves are not visible through most of the long daylight hours.

Finally, a report today from biologists studying birds in the Bechler. They report that 3 wolves of the Bechler Pack were seen near their likely den site. This will be the second year for the only pack in the SW corner of Yellowstone.

Information from Doug Smith, Rick McIntryre, and Deb Guernsey went into preparing this update.